


Robbers and Murders and Unicorns - Oh My!

by DinerGuy



Category: Psych
Genre: Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-24
Updated: 2011-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-15 23:11:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/532816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DinerGuy/pseuds/DinerGuy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the robbery of a local pet shelter goes awry, the team is on the case, but the solution may be much less simple than it first appears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Robbers and Murders and Unicorns - Oh My!

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for Kirei as part of the Secret Santa Fic Exchange on Psychfic. Now that the reveal has taken place, I'm sharing it here. :) Her request was for the following:
> 
> General: What I always want - Henry/Shawn bonding.   
> Specific: I'm gonna do this like a challenge to my Secret Santa.   
> Bonus points for each of the following elements you can figure out how to work into the general scenario.  
> \- whump for Shawn and/or Henry  
> \- hawaiian pizza  
> \- Gus solving a case  
> \- fire extinguisher  
> \- Shules moment  
> \- joke about Lassiter's tie  
> \- a unicorn (hehe)  
> \- happy ending ^_^
> 
> Well, if you know me, you know I couldn't resist including them all. This fic is the result.
> 
> Disclaimer: All things Psych belong to their creators. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made.

"Really, Gus? I'm ashamed of you."

Gus let the driver's door to the Blueberry slam closed behind him. "Yes, Shawn. I do think that Stargate Universe was worth watching, and you are not going to convince me otherwise."

Shawn made a face. "Dude, really? It was entirely too dark and depressing. And how much can really happen when you're stuck in a spaceship in the middle of nowhere?"

"A lot can happen, Shawn," Gus defended himself. "And anything with Lou Diamond Phillips in the cast has to be good."

"Isn't he that treasury agent who was hitting on Jules during that one case?" Shawn asked, starting up the steps to the police station. He wrinkled his nose. "I didn't like him."

Gus rolled his eyes. "That was Lars Ewing, Shawn."

"But he looked like him!" Shawn defended himself.

"Okay, I'll give you that," Gus nodded, pushing through the station's front door.

Shawn looked around, his eyes lighting up when he spotted the station's blonde junior detective at her desk. "Jules! How's it going?"

"Hi, Shawn, Gus," Juliet smiled.

"You called us in about a case?" Gus asked.

Juliet nodded. "Yes. We've got something for you to see." She stood and motioned for them to follow her to a television set.

"Where's Lassie?" Shawn inquired, glancing around the bullpen as he trailed behind the other two. "Doesn't he usually like to be the one in control of the remote?"

Gus elbowed him.

"What?" Shawn protested. "He does! It's like, this weird control fetish or something."

"Shawn!" Gus elbowed him again.

Shawn turned to look where Gus was pointing, his expression changing as he caught sight of the head detective walking up behind him. "Lassieface!" he grinned. "How's life treating you, Detective? Better than it did that tie, I hope."

"This is a perfectly good tie, Spencer!"

"Seriously?" Shawn raised his eyebrows. "It looks like two of my dad's shirts got together and had a baby colorwheel nightmare."

Lassiter ignored him. "Have you started the briefing yet, O'Hara?"

"Not yet," she replied with a shake of her head. "We were just waiting for you, Carlton."

Lassiter nodded. "Okay then." He reached for the remote sitting on the rolling cart next to the television. "Let's get started."

Shawn elbowed Gus, earning himself a kick in the ankle in return.

"Spencer! Guster!" Lassiter snapped, causing Shawn to pause with his hand in mid-air. "Can we please get back to the case at hand?"

The two friends straightened up and Shawn flashed him an innocent smile. "Of course, Lassieface."

Lassiter frowned but pressed the play button on the remote. A slightly grainy, black and white security camera video began running.

"This is footage from Second Chance Shelter downtown," Lassiter explained. "Last night around ten pm, two masked men forced their way into the shelter."

"Why would anyone break into an animal shelter?" Gus asked.

Shawn shrugged. "Maybe they wanted a new pet and got turned down?"

"They were after the money from a recent fundraiser, about fifteen hundred dollars worth," Juliet explained. She pointed to where two large men in ski masks were forcing a young woman and a middle-aged man into a closet. "They locked the two night employees, Rebecca Strahan and Jack Tompkins, in a janitorial closet -"

"And went right for the safe," Lassiter broke in.

"Don't worry, Lassieface. I can find the money for you and all the poor animals that are now destitute because of their loss," Shawn assured him, watching the two robbers on the tape open the safe and remove a bank deposit bag from it. His eyebrows rose as the figures started arguing heatedly.

Gus made a strangled noise as one of the men pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants and fired, his companion crumpling to the ground. Then, tucking the weapon away, the gunman picked up the bag of money and walked out.

"That, Spencer, is what you're being hired to solve," Lassiter said, pressing a button to pause the recording.

Gus had recovered from seeing the murder and shook his head sadly. "Stealing from homeless puppies and kittens? That's just despicable."

Shawn frowned. "I don't think this is like that cartoon where the little girl decides she's going to die after seeing a unicorn."

"That was  _Despicable Me_ , Shawn. And it wasn't just a unicorn. It was a fluffy unicorn at a carnival prize booth."

Shawn blinked. "Aren't unicorns on the endangered species list?"

"This wasn't a real unicorn, Shawn. It was stuffed."

"Oh, so now they're not just giving them away, they're killing them first?" Shawn looked horrified.

Gus smacked him. "It was a fake unicorn on an animated movie, Shawn."

"I've heard it both ways."

Lassiter crossed his arms. "If you two are done, can we get back to the case?"

Shawn and Gus shared a look, then Shawn yelped.

"I'm getting something!" he declared, putting a hand to his temple and squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm getting … that at least one of the robbers was familiar with the shelter." He opened his eyes again. "We should look into current and former volunteers."

"We already thought of that, Spencer," Lassiter told him. "They knew right where the safe was and the combination to it."

"Picky, picky, picky," Shawn admonished. "You need to be more specific next time then, Lassie, because otherwise the spirits will just tell me anything."

"Do we know who the dead guy is?" Gus spoke up, interrupting the argument.

"Yes we do," Juliet told him. "His name is Finn Haskill. No connection to the shelter that we know of yet, but we're still looking."

"Good work, Lassie, Jules," Shawn nodded to them. "Gus, let's go!"

Lassiter crossed his arms. "So you're just going to run off?" he snapped. "Of course you are."

"Don't worry, Lassiefrass," Shawn replied cheerily. "I promise that you will be the second one I call if we find something. Gus, let's go! We'll have to stop for smoothies on the way."

* * *

About twenty minutes later, the two consultants were pulling into the parking lot of the Second Chance Shelter. Shawn was munching on the contents of a snack-sized bag of chips.

"Gus, I am so glad you keep snacks in your car. We may have not found an awesome smoothie place on the way here, but at least I won't starve."

"I do not keep snacks in my car, Shawn," Gus objected as he headed for the front door. "You left that bag in there last time we stopped for gas. And besides, you won't starve if you go without food for four hours."

"You never know, buddy," Shawn warned. "That's why leaving food in random places is always a good idea. Which reminds me. I left a bowl of pineapple in your desk drawer last Friday. You might want to put it in the fridge when you get back to your other office."

Gus made a face. "You did what? Shawn, do you know how bad that is going to smell by the time I can take care of it?"

"Is it my fault you haven't been back to work yet today?"

"Yes, Shawn, it is," Gus retorted. "I was going to do paperwork today, but we got called in for the case."

"That would be Lassie's fault," Shawn corrected.

Gus pushed the door to the shelter open. "The only reason they hired us is because of you pretending you were psychic that day Lassiter had you brought in."

"Shh, Gus." Shawn looked around the small lobby. "I think these people need a better interior decorator."

"They probably can't afford it," Gus told him. "I looked them up online; they've been struggling with income for a while, which is why they had that fundraiser the other day."

Shawn nodded, sauntering over to the counter where a blonde girl in her young twenties, the same girl from the security footage, sat behind a computer, occupied with her smart phone. "Hello, Rebecca," he greeted. "My name is Shawn Spencer and I am a psychic for the SBPD. I'm sensing you can help us out with our investigation about the robbery that occurred here last night. And then maybe Gus can help you out with your new phone there." He pointed to the device in her hand, having noticed she was working on adjusting all the different settings.

The girl looked up, nodding in response as she set her phone down. "It is. And I can certainly answer some questions, if that's what you need."

"Great!" Shawn grinned. "You were working last night, when the robbery happened, weren't you?"

"I was," Rebecca nodded.

Gus gave her a sympathetic look. "Why aren't you off today? I mean, if I were in the middle of a robbery, I certainly wouldn't want to be back in the same place the next morning."

She paused and bit her lower lip. "Yes … That's true, but the shelter doesn't have many people on staff. I was one of the only volunteers available to work today."

"Now, Rebecca, think carefully," Shawn spoke up. "I'm sensing you may have seen or heard something last night that could be helpful."

Rebecca's brow furrowed. "I didn't see much. They were both masked …"

"Did either of their voices sound familiar?" Gus asked her.

She wrinkled her forehead as she thought it over. "I don't know that I recognized either of them …"

"Do you know of anyone named Finn Haskill?" Shawn asked her, using his forefinger to make the bobblehead dog on the counter wag its head.

"Haskill?" Rebecca repeated. "No … I'm sorry. The name doesn't sound familiar."

"Thank you for your time," Gus told her. He handed her one of his business cards. "If you think of anything else, please call me." He winked at her.

Shawn rolled his eyes.

"Anything else I can do for you?" Rebecca asked. "Maybe one of you would like to adopt a pet?"

Shawn grinned. "Well, Gus already has Mrs. Pickles, but I might be interested. Do you have any unicorns available?"

"Unicorns?" Rebecca blinked.

Gus elbowed Shawn in the ribs and gave the girl behind the counter a smile. "Shawn, unicorns do not exist. They are mythical creatures."

"Says who?" Shawn defended himself. "I happen to think they'd make terrific pets."

Gus gave Shawn a look. "Let's go, Shawn."

"But Gus, what about that article I found online that said unicorns are great pets?" Shawn was still complaining as he followed his friend out the door. "You can't argue with Wikipedia!"

* * *

Shawn set down his cell phone with a groan. "My dad left me another message about that fishing trip he wants me to go on with him tomorrow. He's convinced that I'm going to spend the entire weekend on the sea with no one else but him and the fish we murder." Shawn wrinkled his nose. "I have a feeling things will go badly … but my dad will think I'm just trying to get out of it."

"Shawn, you always try to get out of fishing trips." Gus shook his head and turned back to his own work.

"See? That's exactly what he's going to say."

"Well, I think you should go," Gus told him. "I think it will be good for the two of you."

"I can't leave Psych!" Shawn objected.

"You're only going away for the weekend," Gus told him. "Besides, since when have you had a problem with dropping your responsibilities?"

"Yeah, but that's different."

Gus raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"I wasn't ditching responsibilities for torture!"

Giving up on the current stream of conversation, Gus just shook his head. "Did you manage to find any leads on the case in between all this checking your phone and worrying over weekend trips?"

"Actually, yes." Shawn put his phone down as Gus got up from his desk and moved to look over Shawn's shoulder.

"What's this, Haskill's social networking page?"

"Yes, Gus, how observant," Shawn nodded. "Some people need to learn to privacy protect their personal pages." He pointed to the screen. "Look at this."

"What?" Gus asked, his eyes scanning the image of Finn Haskill and several other men at what appeared to be a backyard barbecue, looking for whatever it was Shawn had noticed.

Shawn pointed to the inside of one of the men's right forearm. "Look, he's got a tattoo of a skull and crossbones right there."

"And?"

"Gus! The second robber on the security footage had the same kind of tattoo in the same spot," Shawn explained excitedly. "I saw the bottom edge of it when his sleeve got pushed up for a few seconds."

"Brett Bauer," Gus read, looking at the side of the page where it listed the people tagged in the photo. "That name sounds really familiar. I think I just read it …" He trailed off and went back to his own computer. "I knew it! Shawn, that guy is on the list of past volunteers at the shelter!"

"They were apparently pretty good friends," Shawn observed. "Brett probably heard about the fundraiser and decided to take advantage of his knowledge of the place's inner workings to rob them blind!"

Gus nodded. "It would make sense," he acknowledged.

"We should go question him," Shawn declared. "Do you have his address on the employee records?"

"Oh no, Shawn," Gus shook his head quickly. "We are not going question a murderous criminal all by ourselves. Brett already shot Finn, who apparently was one of his good friends. Who knows what he would do to us if we show up and start asking a bunch of probing questions."

"Gus, don't be the first contestant voted off of Survivor," Shawn chided. "How many times have we done this before?"

"More than I would like," Gus muttered. "And all I have is a phone number. Apparently the shelter didn't keep very good records on its volunteers."

Shawn frowned. "I guess I need to have a vision then. Gus, to the Blueberry!"

* * *

"Oh Lassieface!" Shawn called in a sing-song voice as he and Gus entered the station. He hurried over to the head detective's desk, with Gus trailing reluctantly behind.

Lassiter sighed and looked up from the paperwork he was filling out. "This had better be important, Spencer," he snapped. "Unlike you, some people around here actually have work they'd like to get done."

"I take offense at that, Lassie," Shawn remarked. "But yes, this is important. I've been guided here by a very strong feeling that there is something very familiar about the two robbers." He put a hand to his temple. "Yes! Yes, I'm sensing that both robbers were friends!" he exclaimed.

"Friends?" Juliet asked, coming up to join them.

"Yes!" Shawn replied, still with his eyes shut. "Finn Haskill was enlisted by a friend who worked for the shelter to help with the robbery, the same friend who then turned Eggs Benedict on him -"

"I think you mean Benedict Arnold," Gus corrected.

"I've heard it both ways, Gus. Don't interrupt me when I'm having a vision," Shawn complained. He took a deep breath, then continued. "Finn and his cousin stole the fundraising money, then his cousin turned on him and shot him when they got in an argument!"

"It makes as much sense as anything else at this point," Juliet said, moving to her computer. "Do you know what the cousin's name is, Shawn?"

"Um …" A look of intense concentration crossed Shawn's face. "Jack! Wait, no, Brent … Brett! Brett. Not that ninja guy from  _24_ , but they do share a last name."

"Brett Bauer …" Juliet said aloud as she typed the information into her computer. A few moments later, she looked up. "It looks like our Brett Bauer has a record. There's a sealed juvenile record, then he also has been back in several times as an adult. He's got two B&E's and an aggravated assault charge," she informed the others, scanning the computer screen.

"Do we have a location on this guy?" Lassiter wanted to know.

"Yes," Juliet nodded.

Lassiter stood and grabbed his keys. "All right, then. O'Hara, let's go ask him some questions."

* * *

Gus' little blue car pulled to a halt behind Lassiter's car in Bauer's driveway. The head detective scowled at the two consultants as they got out.

"Spencer, I do not remember asking you to come. You'll just get in the way."

Shawn raised his right hand. "I promise I will not interfere with anything you might want to do - unless it involves shooting any unicorns, then I might have to."

"Just stay behind us," Juliet told them.

"Will do, Jules," Shawn nodded in agreement.

The two detectives made their way up the porch steps to the front door of Bauer's home. Lassiter rapped on the door. When he received no answer, he knocked again, this time much harder.

"Brett Bauer? This is the SBPD!"

There was still no answering voice, but suddenly there was a shot from inside the house and the glass of the window beside the door shattered. The four occupants of the porch jumped in surprise, Shawn and Gus letting out two completely manly screams as they did so.

Lassiter scowled, then stepped back and kicked the door in.

The door flew inward and both detectives charged in with their guns raised. Shawn and Gus were right behind them. No one was in sight in the entryway, but as soon as they stepped into the living room, shots rang out. All four dove for cover in various places around the room.

Lassiter stood from behind the sofa that was sheltering him, firing several shots towards the kitchen from where the opposing shots were coming, then ducked back down as several bullets found their place in the wall next to him.

Juliet took her turn, getting three shots off before the return fire forced her to again crouch behind the armchair she was using for cover.

Meanwhile, Shawn and Gus were having a whispered conversation from behind a low wall between the foyer and living room.

"Gus, I think I might be able to distract him!"

"Shawn, you are crazy!" Gus exclaimed quietly. "Stay put and let Lassiter and Juliet take care of this."

"But Gus!"

Gus shook his head furiously. "No, Shawn. You are not going out there. The man has a gun!"

Shawn peeked over the wall, then ducked back beside his friend. "Dude, if I go around the other way, he won't even see me! Maybe I can knock him out with a fire extinguisher or something."

"Shawn!" Gus was only half-whispering at this point. "You had better not even try it. You're going to get yourself killed!"

"But Gus -" Before Shawn could protest any further, there was a muffled grunt from the kitchen.

Lassiter stood carefully, a satisfied look on his face, and hurried into the other room, Juliet right on his heels. Shawn jumped up after them, with Gus following a little more reluctantly. When the consultants stepped through the doorway, Lassiter was just checking Bauer's pulse.

Gus made a choking noise as he took in the scene. There was some blood spattered on the table and wall behind where Bauer lay, and a handgun was lying on the floor beside his still form.

"Nice shot, O'Hara," Lassiter told his partner. "Call it in."

Shawn was eyeing the pizza box sitting on the small kitchen table. "Jules, can I have that pizza?"

"What? No," Juliet answered. "Shawn, that's gross."

"But it smells like Hawaiian pizza, Jules," Shawn begged. "And there's not much blood on the boxes."

"Spencer!" Lassiter broke in. "I couldn't care less about you feeding your stomach right now. You don't happen to have any psychic visions of where Bauer may have hid the money, do you?" His tone was sarcastic, but Shawn didn't seem to notice.

Shawn nodded slowly. "Let me see," he intoned, holding a hand to his head and closing his eyes tightly. He flashed back to the quick glance of the rest of the house he'd managed to get when they'd walked in. "I'm getting something! Lassie! Gus! Jules! Follow me!" He spun and hurried into the dining room, which connected the kitchen and the front entryway. There was a crooked piece of framed art on the wall, and Shawn went right to it. He waved his hands over the picture. "Right here! I'm sensing the money is right behind here."

With a flourish, Shawn removed the frame from its hook, revealing a wall safe in the center of the unfaded portion of the wall. He handed the picture to Gus and flashed Juliet a grin. "And there you go, Jules! If I were a shameless robber of puppies and unicorns, I would definitely put the money in a hidden wall safe in my dining room."

* * *

"Your coffee, my lady," Shawn announced, handing a paper cup to Juliet, who was bent over paperwork at her desk.

"Thanks, Shawn," she smiled, taking the drink.

Shawn plopped down in the chair on the other side of the desk from her and propped his elbows on the desktop. "So what did you find in the safe?" he asked. "Was all the money there?"

Taking a sip of her drink, Juliet nodded and set it down beside her phone. "Most of it was there."

"How much was gone?" Shawn wanted to know.

"About five hundred dollars. Bauer probably spent it at some point this morning; we're looking through the receipts we found at his place to see if we can account for it." Juliet picked up the cup again, watching Shawn over the rim. "Are you going fishing with your dad tomorrow?"

Shawn sighed. "Did Gus tell you?"

"I think you should go," she told him.

"Jules, you do realize that I won't enjoy myself this weekend. And you didn't answer my question."

"You might be surprised," she commented. "And Gus didn't tell me; your dad mentioned it the other day."

"All right, all right, I'm going," Shawn groused. "But you'll regret making me go when you desperately need my services tomorrow and have to take a helicopter to the middle of the ocean to find me."

Juliet laughed. "Shawn, we'll be fine for one weekend without you," she told him.

"Oh, so you don't need me any more, is that it?" Shawn feigned offense.

She gave him a look. "You know what I mean."

He nodded grudgingly then winked. "Okay, fine. But you've got to admit, it would be pretty cool if you did have to chopper out to get me."

* * *

The next morning was bright and clear. Henry Spencer was at the dock early, eager to get a start on the trip he'd been planning for that weekend. If everything went right, his son would actually arrive somewhat on time and they could get started.

After half an hour had passed, Henry's enthusiasm was starting to damper. He checked his watch for the umpteenth time as he pulled out his phone to call Shawn.

It rang several times before his son picked up.

"Hello?"

"Shawn, why does it sound like you just woke up?" Henry demanded. "I've been waiting for you for almost an hour already!"

"Oh, sorry," Shawn didn't sound entirely penitent. "I'll be right there."

"You'd better," Henry warned, "or I'm going to come get you myself."

Shawn laughed. "Of course you are. Don't worry, Dad; the fish will still be there even if we're a little late."

Henry sighed as he hung up. He'd wanted to have a nice relaxing weekend with his son, but Shawn was just as determined to make it as hard as possible on both of them.

He settled back to wait in his truck. It should only have taken Shawn twenty minutes or less to get ready and out to the dock, but over half an hour later, he was still waiting. Aggravated at his son's blatant disregard for other people's time or plans, Henry dialed the phone a second time.

This time, however, there was no answer other than Shawn's voicemail recording.

"Shawn! I know you're just ignoring my call," Henry told him. "I wasn't kidding when I said I was going to come get you myself. You agreed to this trip," he added for good measure, then hung up. Even if Shawn was determined to be a child, Henry was still going to hold him to his word.

* * *

Gus didn't rush on his way to the Psych office. He didn't expect they'd have many, if any at all, customers that day, but he had told Shawn he would look after things at the office that day. When he arrived, he flicked on all the lights and took a seat at his desk. When he went to pull out his laptop though, he sighed in frustration.

Somehow, he'd forgotten to grab it when he left his apartment. He had work that needed to be done, though, and Shawn's computer caught his eye. Shawn had left his laptop there from the previous night, and Gus knew his friend wasn't going to be using it that day. He'd learned his lesson the hard way about using Shawn's office chair, so he rolled his own over to his friend's desk.

He had the system up within a few minutes; he already knew Shawn's password, so that wasn't a problem. Shawn's browser was already up, displaying Finn Haskill's social networking page that they'd been looking at the day before.

Gus was about to exit out of the screen but accidentally brushed the button that pulled up the next picture in Finn Haskill's online album. It was of Finn and a young woman who looked only a year or two younger than he. They were at what appeared to be some sort of Christmas party, and Haskill's arm was around the girl's waist.

He quickly clicked through several more pictures and found one or two more of both Haskill and the girl together, including one where they were kissing.

The woman's face made Gus pause. He knew that face. Glancing at the name on the screen, his brow furrowed. A moment later, he was pulling out his cell phone.

"Juliet, it's Gus. I think I found something more about that animal shelter case."

* * *

Shawn had had every intention of leaving early that morning, but several totally unavoidable incidents the night before caused him to sleep through his alarm. First, he'd had trouble finding his duffel bag. Then there was a Back to the Future marathon on TV, and although he had meant to only watch for a few minutes, before he knew it, Doc and his wife were waving goodbye to Marty and Jennifer and riding off into the distance in their time machine.

When the ringing of his cell phone jolted him awake, Shawn had taken one look at the caller ID and groaned. He was definitely in for one of his dad's famous lectures, if not more than one.

He'd managed to get off the phone in record time and was rushing through getting dressed when there was a knock on his door. Shawn looked at the clock in confusion. Even if his dad had been serious about the coming drag him down to the dock threat, there was no way Henry would have made it to his apartment already.

Shawn padded to the door in his bare feet, finishing pulling on his tshirt as he did so. "I'm coming, I'm coming," he called out as the knock sounded again. "Just a second."

He unlocked the door, fully expecting to find either his dad or Gus on his step. Even Juliet or Lassiter or Buzz wouldn't have been a surprise, but Shawn found himself blinking at the sight of the blonde girl at his door.

"Hi, Shawn. Remember me?" she asked with a smile.

"Yes, I do," Shawn nodded. "Don't tell me; you were able to locate a homeless unicorn for me."

She shook her head. "No, sorry. Can I come in for a second? It's kind of important."

* * *

"You do?" Juliet asked. "Did Shawn divine anything else?"

Gus shook his head, even though he knew Juliet couldn't see him. "Shawn's not here; he went on a fishing trip with Henry. But I found some pictures online of Haskill and Rebecca Strahan together; I think they're a couple," Gus told her.

"And she said she didn't know any Haskills!" Juliet added. "Good work, Gus. That would also explain the missing money."

"And her new phone," Gus agreed. "And being one of the victims of the robbery is a great alibi."

"Good work, Gus," Juliet told him. "We'll see if we can track her down."

* * *

When Henry pulled up to the old drycleaner's that Shawn had rented as living space, he could see his son's motorcycle parked in the front lot. There was also a small red car in the parking lot beside the bike. Unless Shawn had bought a car without telling anyone about it, which Henry highly doubted, his son had company.

Henry rolled his eyes. Leave it to Shawn to be the irresponsible one and not let Henry know what was really going on.

He dialed the phone again, only to get voicemail yet again. He didn't even bother leaving a message this time. As he moved to knock on the door and let his son know how he felt about being stood up this way, a gunshot echoed from inside Shawn's apartment.

* * *

Shawn had managed to dive behind his sofa when Rebecca pulled a gun from the waistband of her jeans, and the only thing that was penetrated by the bullet was the wall behind where he had just been standing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he called from behind the couch, trying to keep her talking to gauge where she was and how to best avoid the next shot. "I bet it was frustrating finding out you couldn't get any more money from the heist you three pulled."

"You have no idea." Shawn could hear the scowl in Rebecca's voice. "It was all going fine until you showed up and did your psychic thing. Do you know Brett and I were going to get married next year? We had it all planned out and everything!"

"I'm sorry," Shawn offered. "But robbing the shelter was wrong, and we couldn't let you get away with it."

"Brett is dead!" she yelled just as the front door flew open, banging into the wall and swinging back and forth from the force.

Rebecca jumped, whirled and fired at the noise, her bullet catching Henry in the hip. He spun to the side and crumpled to his knees, using the doorframe to keep from falling entirely.

"Dad!" Shawn leaped up at the grunt from the door, dodging around the sofa to tackle the now-shaking girl in the middle of the room.

She appeared shocked now that she actually had shot someone, and Shawn easily untangled himself, scrambling to his feet with the handgun firmly clenched in his fist

Before anyone could make another move, Lassiter's car sped into the parking lot, the brakes screeching slightly as it came to a halt.

"Shawn!" Juliet was out of the passenger side almost before her partner had put the vehicle in park. Her eyes quickly took in the scene and her expression fell. "Is he all right?" she asked as she hurried to kneel beside Shawn and Henry.

Gus was already on his cell phone, giving someone frantic information about what was going on. Lassiter charged into the room and took charge of the situation, yanking out his cuffs and reading Rebecca her rights.

"I'm fine," Henry tried to wave them off. "It just nicked me."

Juliet pushed him back down. "Let me see," she insisted. "Shawn, go get some towels."

He nodded and hurried to do as she asked.

"Well, you were lucky," she told him as she inspected the rip near the waist of his pants. "It looks like you're right; it just nicked you, but it's enough that you'll need some stitches, and these jeans are probably ruined."

Henry shrugged. "It's fine."

Shawn returned just then, the worry that was evident on his face clearing up when he heard Juliet's pronouncement. "So you'll be okay?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Henry answered. "And next time you want to get out of a fishing trip, you don't have to get someone to shoot me to delay it."

"I'm hurt you'd even suggest that," Shawn frowned. "And what do you mean, delay?"

"Just that." Henry winked at Juliet. "I'll be waiting for you at the dock next Saturday morning. And you'd better not make me chase you down that morning."

"What if Gus wants me to go putt-putt golfing with him?" Shawn asked. "You know how he gets when I turn him down."

"I heard that, Shawn!"

Shawn frowned. "Gus, you do get upset when I tell you no. What about last week when I told you I couldn't take care of that lost cat case?"

"That was not a case, Shawn, and that was just that one time because you had already promised to help me look for my neighbor's cat!" Gus joined their group, his arms crossed.

"But you found her, didn't you?"

"No thanks to you," Gus retorted.

Henry shared a look with Juliet. "Looks like we're back to normal again."


End file.
